Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Last Day at Fitch Park

The Cubs moved their headquarters up the street to Hohokam Stadium today after practicing at Fitch Park. There will be a practice at Hohokam tomorrow but no scrimmage game, and then the games begin on Thursday for the Cubs in Scottsdale vs the Bondsless Giants.

I shot some video of the outfielders working today, you will see two drills. The first was set up so they would be fielding fly balls looking into the sun...not a fun prospect, especially with windy conditions today. The second is a drill fielding balls off the centerfield wall, playing the ricochet or catching the ball on the wall. This is a fun one to watch as you can see these guys make some very athletic plays, with nice grabs towards the end of the video by Matt Murton, Felix Pie, #15 Andres Torres, and Kosuke Fukudome.

While watching these guys over the last week it's clear that Alfonso Soriano is still a work in progress in the field, you will notice this in the video. Felix Pie is super athletic, he uses his speed well and has a real knack for finding the ball in flight or off the wall. Kosuke Fukudome is very smooth and confident in rightfield, he should really bolster the outfield defense. The video is about 6 minutes long.

Scary moment today as Ted Lilly took a line shot in the leg from a ball hit by Aramis Ramirez. Lilly was noticeably ticked the moment it happened but it didn't seem to bother him as he waved off the trainer. After he finished his pitches he passed Ramirez, Soriano, and Soto next to the batting cage and they all seemed to have a relieved laugh about it.